E-waste Management

Introduction

Electronic waste, or e-waste, is a term for electronic products that have become unwanted, non-working, or obsolete, and have essentially reached the end of their useful life.

As per E-waste Rule 2016, E-waste is defined as ‘electrical and electronic equipment, whole or in part discarded as waste by the consumer or bulk consumer as well as rejects from manufacturing, refurbishment and repair processes.

E-waste contains many valuable, recoverable materials such as aluminium, copper, gold, silver, plastics, and ferrous metals. In order to conserve natural resources and the energy needed to produce new electronic equipment from virgin resources, electronic equipment can be refurbished, reused, and recycled instead of being land-filled.

E-waste also contains toxic and hazardous materials including mercury, lead, cadmium, beryllium, chromium, and chemical flame retardants, which have the potential to leach into our soil and water.

Benefits of E-waste Recycling

• Electronics Recycling Conserves Natural Resources:

There are many materials that can be recovered from old electronics. These materials can be used to make new products, thus reducing the need to mine for new raw materials. For instance, various metals can be recovered from computer circuit boards and other electronics, and the plastics and glass found in computer monitors and televisions can be recycled.

• Electronics Recycling Supports the Community:

Donating your old electronics plays an important role in the provision of refurbished products such as computers and mobile phones, which can be of great help to low-income families, schools, and not-for-profit organizations. It also helps individuals gain access to technology that they could not have otherwise afforded.

• Electronics Recycling Creates Employment Locally:

Considering that around 90 percent of electronic equipment is recyclable, electronics recycling can play a significant role in creating employment. This is because new firms dealing with electronics recycling will form and existing firms will look to employ more people to recover recyclable materials. This can be triggered by the increase in the demand for electronics recycling.

• Electronics Recycling Helps Protect Public Health and the Environment

Many electronics have toxic or hazardous materials such as mercury and lead, which can be harmful to the environment if disposed of in trash cans. Reusing and recycling electronics safely helps in keeping hazardous materials from harming humans or the environment. For example, televisions and computer monitors are hazardous since they have lead in them. Printed circuit boards contain harmful materials such as cadmium, lead, mercury, and chromium. Also, batteries in computers and other electronics may contain hazardous materials such as cadmium, mercury, and lead.

Instead of keeping old electronics in the house or dumping them in landfills, recycling or reusing them is an appropriate option that should be supported by individuals and organizations. Considering the benefits of electronics recycling, it is very important that people in various parts around the world embrace this concept.

• Creates Jobs: E-waste recycling creates new jobs for professional recyclers and creates a secondary market for recycled materials.

Collection Mechanism of e-waste

The company had planned to adopt the Buy-back Scheme:

• Under Buyback Scheme, in cases where the customer wants to discard their old product, they may call at Toll Free No. 1800 309 9234 and our representatives shall approach the customer and buy the said discarded product from the customer in consideration.
• The Customer shall also be free to deposit the discarded product at the nearest collection point and he will get the discount voucher and shall be eligible for the discount on the purchase of a selected new product of the Company. The company will coordinate with other independent vendors who may sell the e-waste/EOL product collected by them.
• The Company will furthermore elaborate its scheme and shall keep updating the same based on the experience faced while implementing the said schemes on a quarterly basis.

Direct Collection from Customer’s premises

• For the collection of e-waste, the Company has set up a toll-free number where any customer may call and register himself/herself for either depositing his/her old product as free of cost or otherwise under the buy-back program initiated by the company. The company shall give its number on its product manuals, website, and social networking platforms and at its various connected premises for its customer information for disposal of their e-waste. The customer can directly call on these numbers and the e-waste will be directly collected by the company or by its recycler partner. The company has a recycler partner who has to manage logistic service through Sai baba logistics available at most of the locations at its collection canters.

Recycling of E-waste

• The Company has tied -up with the M/s Planet Green RECYCLING Private Limited for collection of all our E-waste on PAN India and disposes the same at their recycling facilities / Corporate Office at Planet Green Recycling Private Limited, Plot.No.G-129, Phase-1, M.G.Road, Industrial Area, Hapur, U.P-201302 India. Customers can reach or call on Toll Free No. 1800 309 9234. Our representatives will explain to drop the e-waste also give information about incentives we will offer to them against their end-of-life product. If any customer wants to hand over the material from their doorsteps, we do send either our logistics team or E-waste Solutions team to collect the items and channelize the same to our e-waste partner plant for final processing.

Do’s & Don’ts

Do’s:

• Always look for information on the catalog with your product for end-of-life equipment handling.
• Ensure that only Authorized Recyclers/Dismantler handle your electronic products.
• Always call our toll-free No’s to dispose of products that have reached end-of-life.
• Always drop your used electronic products, batteries, or any accessories when they reach the end of their life at your nearest Authorized E-Waste Collection Points.
• Always disconnect the battery from the product, and ensure any glass surface is protected against breakage.

Don’ts:

• Do not dismantle your electronic Products on your own.
• Do not throw electronics in bins having a “Do not Dispose” sign.
• Do not give e-waste to informal and unorganized sectors like Local Scrap Dealer/ Rag Pickers.
• Do not dispose of your product in garbage bins along with municipal waste that ultimately reaches landfills.

Collection Centre

Note – we have centralized the system for pan India contact Toll Free No. 1800 309 9234 and ask to concern state collection centre person mention place name and concern person name to get connected.